Save Norton Folgate

April 23, 2015

It doesn’t look much from the main street, a grubby row of shops with a mix of late Georgian, Victorian and Art Deco facades and you can see why the City of London and British Land have their eyes on it. For much of my London life the City has remained firmly on the west side of Broadgate, the Spitalfields market and Brick Lane were the places i came in the late eighties and early nineties to look for props for shows in rooms above pubs. At that point the East End seemed in decline, the market traders sold out of railway arches, semi derelict buildings and the lots left as buildings either fell or were pulled down. It was also a place , as Shepherd’s Bush in the west is now, for sourcing cheap fabrics. I began to get an insight into the rich history of the area on London open days with visits to the old synagogue in Princelet st, a miraculously small inner courtyard built out of the back of one of the Georgian terraces. Dennis Sever’s house in Folgate st saved and preserved as if its Georgian occupants have just popped out for a pint is the now famous example of the efforts of a group of individuals including Dan Criukshank who squatted and saved buildings from demolition by the same British Land Development company almost 40 years ago.

Why bother trying to stop the march of ‘progress’ ? Dan, in a talk last night, showed how the area has developed and changed since medieval times and it was shocking to see how much Georgian grandeur ,created through the wealth of Huguenot immigrant weavers, was lost as the area descended into slum multiple occupancy and economic decline. Importantly it was always an area of independent thinkers, immigrants and artists outside of the walls of the City.How much more of the history of the area can be erased by the encroachment of the greed of the modern City before it ceases to have a character? It is this very character and history that attracts artists and young creative businesses and so helps to make London such a vibrant and creative city to live and work in.We all love picturesque decay, but as he said it is also the enemy of what we love , without maintenance and committed passion is is so easy for these buildings to fall into an unrepairable state. If the developer waits long enough demolition is the only answer. It was amazing to see photos of the buildings Dan and the now Spitalfield Trust members rescued. They had no roofs and the rear elevations seemed to be emerging from or rather merging with vast piles of rubble surrounding the site. Through direct action they saved the buildings and then had the arduous task of restoring them.

The Norton Folgate area has several Victorian warehouse spaces complete with beautiful cast iron pillars and ceiling structures, floors so worn that the knots in the boards protrude , but so resonant of the history of the people who worked in them. They should be great places for affordable small business rentals, artists and designer’s studios and accommodation. As so much of london becomes unaffordable to the creative Industries it is vital we all fight to preserve and reveal the rich history of the city around us.